Portable ramp assemblies provide a portable inclined surface on which a user can travel between lower and upper elevation surfaces, for example, for access over a set of stairs or into a vehicle. Such ramp assemblies include a ramp platform and may include one or more transition plates for providing transition surfaces or resting contacts from a surface of a lower elevation to the ramp platform and from the ramp platform to a surface of an upper elevation.
In some ramp assemblies, for example, in vehicle hitch-mounted folding ramp assemblies, the transition from the ramp platform is ill-suited or incompatible with, for example, an upper elevation surface, such as a lip at the rear hatch of a car or SUV or the pick-up bed of a truck. In addition, the ramp platform may not fully extend to reach the upper elevation surface, thereby leaving a gap between the ramp platform and the upper elevation surface and requiring a ramp extension plate to bridge the two surfaces. Moreover, in the case of a vehicle hitch-mounted ramp assembly, which may be mounted on the vehicle hitch in a substantially vertical stowed orientation, the ramp extension plate may need to be removed or disassembled to allow the ramp to properly be positioned into its stowed orientation. The extension plate must then be reattached when the ramp is positioned into its extended orientation. Such removing and reattaching of the ramp extension plate not only creates a hassle for the user, but further may result in loss or damage to critical parts of the ramp assembly.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved, integrated transition surface for a ramp assembly that can remain coupled to the ramp assembly when the ramp assembly is being transitioned between ramp stowed and ramp extended orientations.